


a hero

by natalies



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Ambiguous/Open Ending, Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Coming Out, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Gay Shiro (Voltron), Insecure Lance (Voltron), M/M, Protective Shiro (Voltron), Space Dad Shiro (Voltron), adam is mentioned but that's about it, hunk moved to varadero when he was a kid because i say so, i just wanted him to help lance realize some shit, i needed to write lance confiding in shiro, in true space dad fashion, just want to make that clear, look shiro is confirmed mlm and i have been crying for the past day, no actual relationship takes place, shiro helps lance figure out his feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-21
Updated: 2018-07-21
Packaged: 2019-06-14 04:20:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,142
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15380526
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/natalies/pseuds/natalies
Summary: "I think you may need to look at it from another perspective. You might want Allura, but is Allura who you need?"Or, Shiro helps Lance come to terms with his feelings





	a hero

**Author's Note:**

> anyone else crying over confirmed rep?  
> i wanted to do a quick thing to just get it out of my system for now, and this has been on my mind forever so why not kill two birds in one stone amirite 
> 
> also this is my first published work in this fandom so yay after two years i finally get around to actually publish some of the shit i write

They were on their third planet. A desert planet with two suns beating down on them relentlessly. Hunk and Lance had both grinned like idiots, the heat reminding them of their childhood – the warm Cuban heat was nothing like the one they were currently finding themselves in, but it was the first time they had felt the heat of a sun like this since they left earth. They whooped as they plopped down in the sand and started shoveling it into a poor excuse of a sandcastle.

So they were acting like kids. Whatever.

“How are you so happy?” Pidge groaned, standing underneath a makeshift umbrella she had made from scraps. “It’s unbearable. I hate sand.”

“Okay, _Anakin_ ,” Hunk scoffed and got up from the sand, helping Lance up as well. “Some of us grew up in warmer climate, you know. I missed the heat.”

“We only need a surf board to complete the picture,” Lance grinned, for once not feeling the tug at his heart when he talked about home. _Home_. They were going home. “Oh, man, you remember when we tried to teach Dani to surf?”

Lance’s cousin Daniela had convinced them both to teach her one summer. It had gone terrible, to put it mildly. She gave up on it after two weeks and Lance’s older brother had taken over instead. (He’d been a much better teacher, apparently, even though Lance refused to admit it). 

Hunk laughed at the memory. “To be fair, you’re a crap teacher.”

“I taught Veronica!”

“That’s a nice way to put it,” Hunk snorted and brushed some sand from his hair. “Pretty sure Ronnie got Marco to help her when you weren’t looking.”

“I didn’t know you could surf,” Keith spoke up, reminding Lance that there were other people present. “You any good?” 

Lance cleared his throat and shrugged. “Nah – “

“He’s sick,” Hunk cut him off and threw a hand over his shoulder. “Lance taught me when I moved to Varadero and I remember being in awe when I first saw him riding a wave. You should show them when we get home, Lance.”

Lance began spluttering out a reason why he _absolutely_ would _not_ show them when Keith grinned.

“I would like that,” he said. “Maybe you could teach me.”

“I mean,” Lance cleared his throat and rubbed at the back of his neck. Was he blushing? God, he hoped not. “Yeah – yeah, I can… probably do that.”

\--

Lance was sitting outside the inn they had decided to stay in, looking up at the stars. He could almost trick himself into believing it was the Milky Way, but the constellations were all wrong, and he knew they were still a long way from home.

Still, it was calming, in a way. Not feeling like he was floating in space that he sometimes did back on the Castle. Seeing the stars from a planet was… grounding.

It also made his mind wander, thinking about all the stuff he had tried _not_ to think about for a while. Or, at all.

Lance was pretty sure his crush on Allura had started to fade, but he couldn’t be a hundred percent sure. He had strong feelings for her, a lot of that rooted in the friendship they had made over the past few months, and it was hard knowing exactly what was platonic and what was romantic. He knew he cared about her, he knew seeing her with Lotor had been painful – but was it painful because it was jealousy or was it panful because he thought he would hurt her?

Not to mention the other can of worms he hadn’t really opened yet…

“Was wondering where you ran off to.”

Lance looked over his shoulder and saw Shiro standing behind him, a small smile on his face as he looked at Lance. Seeing him without the Galra arm was still somewhat jarring but seeing him alive and well (as well as he could be, all things considered) far outweighed anything else.

“I needed some time to think.”

“Yeah,” Shiro hummed and sat down next to him. “I get that. A lot has happened lately.”

Lance nodded and looked down at his jeans, picking at a loose thread.

“I wanted to talk with you, actually,” Shiro said in a careful voice, as if testing the waters before jumping in. “But if you’d rather be left alone…”

“No,” Lance shook his head. “No, I’ve been alone enough for today, I think. What do you want to talk about?”

“About what happened when I was gone,” Shiro said and crossed his feet underneath himself in the sand. The action made him seem younger somehow. “I guess I got… I got his memories. So I know what happened to you all when I was gone.”

Nope. Lance didn’t want to hear this. “Shiro – “

“You know I don’t – “ Shiro cut himself off with a sigh, a crease between his eyebrows. “I wouldn’t yell at you like that. At least, not in a situation like that. You’ve come so far this past year, Lance, and I’m proud of you. So, what I guess I’m trying to say is, don’t be afraid to speak your mind. Okay? You’ve got a good head for strategy and I value your opinion.”

“I – “ Lance swallowed and averted his eyes. “I thought my problem was that I spoke my mind too much.”

Shiro hummed. “Perhaps. Pidge goes on techno ramblings despite knowing we won’t understand her, Hunk will mutter about whatever he’s doing until someone points it out and Keith can yell himself hoarse if he wants to.”

“I don’t really get where you’re going with this.”

“Pidge’s rambling, Hunk’s muttering, Keith’s yelling and you running your mouth. It can be annoying, sure, but it’s who you all are. Your problem is that you talk about everything to avoid talking about the stuff that really matters. When you’re not sure about a situation, you run your mouth, and it’s not inherently a bad thing,” Shiro glanced at the stars for a moment, letting it all sink in, before he looked at Lance again. “I just wish you’d talk to us more. When you feel insecure, or when you want to let something off your chest. We’ll always be there for you, no matter what.”

Lance tried to swallow past the lump in his throat, tried to ignore the tears threatening to spill over. Shiro was… he was telling him to talk? He wanted him to talk and he would listen?

“I’ve talked with Keith before,” Lance said after a few moments had gone by. He cleared his throat when he heard how croaky it was. “He left the team pretty soon after.”

“You think he left because he didn’t want you to talk to him?”

“No,” Lance said, because he knew that was absurd, but… “But it sort of feels like a bad omen, you know? I’m not really – I mean, I used to talk to my sister about this stuff. She’s my twin, and in some ways, I feel like she knows what I want to talk about before I even know myself. And it’s easier, I guess, when the other person just _knows_ what the problem is and how you’re gonna formulate yourself.”

Shiro leaned back on his hand. “Yeah, I know what you mean. Adam was like that for me. He knew exactly what to say to make me feel better, and he knew when something was bothering me just by taking one glance at me. But the thing is, sometimes it’s good for you to really talk about it. To formulate your words and gather your thoughts.”

“Like what we’re doing now?”

It made Shiro chuckle, and Lance felt a small smile tug at his own lips. “Yeah, exactly.”

“So…” Lance took a deep breath and righted his back, trying to get himself to calm down before he’d spill the beans on something he’d barely let himself think about. “Speaking of Adam…”

Shiro met his eyes and raised one perfectly trimmed white eyebrow. “Yeah?”

“I don’t… I mean, I don’t really know if I told you, like, really told you. But… you’re someone I’ve looked up to for a long time, long before we got up here, and I had this dream when I was young that I was gonna become a pilot and join the Garrison just like you did. You’re pretty much my hero, is what I’m trying to say. And… well, seeing you being open and proud…”

Shiro righted himself as well, turning to look at Lance more directly.

“It sounds like such a goddamn cliché, but… you’re the reason I came out to my family. I… I’m bi.”

In the darkness of night, Lance wondered if Shiro could see his tears. He hadn’t really told anyone about that yet, had he? Hunk knew, because he had been there, holding his hand when he told his sister that he was bi. Had been there when his mother had cupped his cheek and told him that it was nothing to be ashamed of, that he was still her son and nothing in the world could change that.

He hadn’t told the team yet. For whatever reason. Though, he was pretty sure Pidge knew, because she’s Pidge, and she just _knows_ stuff.

He didn’t know if he feared rejection or if he just didn’t feel the need to share his identity with them. But right now, talking to his childhood hero, a man who had been unapologetic about his identity, he realized it was both. He didn’t know _why,_ but it just was.

“Hey,” Shiro said softly, tapping his chin with one finger. “I’m proud of you, you know that? It’s not always easy, owning who you are, but you just did without hesitating. I’m glad I was someone you could look up to, Lance, and I’m really happy that you opened yourself up.”

Lance wiped his eyes and gave a watery chuckle. “I’m proud of you too, if it means anything.”

Shiro smiled at him. “It does.”

Lance wiped the remaining tears off his face and took a deep, shuddering breath. “I’m sort of not… I mean, I could use some advice. If you’re up for it.”

“Of course.”

“I think I’m… or, well, I know I’m conflicted. About Allura, I mean,” Lance confessed and looked down. Coming out was one thing, harping about his feelings for someone who just got their heart broken was something else entirely. The last thing he wanted was to come off as selfish. “I guess it sort of hurt, knowing she picked Lotor over me? But at the same time, I… fuck, I don’t want to be that guy that gets all jealous, and I especially don’t want to do that when she got hurt the way she did. And… well, I know she won’t feel the same about me, I’ve known it for a while now, and I’m… I guess I’m okay with that? Fuck. I just don’t know if I’m having actual feelings for her anymore or if I just love her like a friend.”

“We don’t always get what we want,” Shiro mused and looked up at the stars again. “I think you may need to look at it from another perspective. You might want Allura, but is Allura who you need? The person who brings out the best in you and challenges you to be the best version of yourself you can be?”  

Lance’s head suddenly swam in red -  

“Being hurt that she picked Lotor over you doesn’t mean you’re a bad person. You always had a gut feeling about the guy and seeing Allura with someone you don’t trust would hurt no matter what.”

\- black hair, the opposite of hers –

“When I first met Adam, we didn’t get along. We butted heads a lot. He thought I was too cocky and I thought he was a weird loner. Pretty, but still weird.”

\- Lance hadn’t let himself think about this realistically at all ever since the first thought popped into his head all those months ago. Looking at him and realizing just how pretty he was, how beautiful the color of his eyes were –

“I saw a lot of Keith in Adam,” Shiro said and finally looked at Lance. “And I see a lot of myself in you.”

Lance’s throat felt like sandpaper. “Oh.”

Fuck. Was it really that simple? Lance had denied any and all feelings for Keith, thinking it was all about Allura, hadn’t even entertained the idea in his head properly – and Shiro says one thing and suddenly it falls in place?

Could it really be that simple?

“I think I have feelings for your kid.”

Shiro burst out laughing, a sound Lance hadn’t heard in so long. And maybe, just maybe, things could be alright again.

**Author's Note:**

> i left it on an ambigious note in case i ever want to go back and make a short sequel where lance gets more comfortable with his feelings (because even though it might seem clear, realistically, we know he needs some time) and stuff but idk we'll see what happens 
> 
> in the meantime, thank you so much for reading! comments/kudos are always appreciated xx 
> 
> you can find me on my voltron tumblr [roverdamn](https://roverdamn.tumblr.com/) or my main [natalies](https://natalies.tumblr.com/)


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